Time for me to delve deep into Hawkwind. There are a couple of the big prog bands I’ve willingly chosen not to explore since I still want to have new prog to look forward to but I can definitely recognize the time has come for these space rockers.
I remember reading that some of their 80’s records had so many layers of synths that the music bordered on cacophony. I’d really like to explore those so any ideas what albums those may be?
Also, I’m ordering Moorcock’s Elric’s book 1 . It is also time.
I have Hawkwind's 1st, In Search of Space, Space Ritual, and a box set of rarities called 'Acid Daze.' I wouldn't say I am a mega fan, but I like their freakishness and how they experimented with both sound and rock music. Joe Banks' spectacular band bio, 'Hawkwind: Days of the Underground: Radical Escapism in the Age of Paranoia' is also easily one of the best music books I have read. It's a definite page-turner written with a ton of love and respect.
Man, I love the illustration for the cover on Warrior on the Edge of Time. It's such a great example of mixed media illustration/painting. I'm not sure if it is pen and ink or pen and watercolor, but it is gorgeous and the composition is fantastic.
I'll be doing a discussion, some time this month, about the covers for the new edition of D&D and how the digital painters are talented but that some of the modern practices in digital based art make illustrations look muddy. They are going for a "painterly" style, similar to what was done in Disney's Wish and the most recent Puss in Boots movie, but with a tad more expressionist influence. I'll be showing how even Monet, Manet, and Van Gogh manage to have styles where strokes are visible and not "photoreal," while managing to have clear distinctions between subjects and surroundings. That's where these new artists fail because the bodies of the subjects blur into the background or other subjects.
It's really a shame too because the general composition of the new covers is really good, but flawed.
The cover on the original album folds out. I'm not sure who did the art itself. The concept and art direction are credited to Comte Pierre D’Auvergne and Eddie Brash, but those are pseudonyms for Pierre Tubbs and Barney Bubbles. Looking forward to your D&D cover commentary!
Other literary-adjacent Hawkwind includes 'Damnation Alley' from 'Quark Strangeness & Charm' and 'High Rise' from PXR5, inspired by Roger Zelazny & JG Ballard respectively (written for movie soundtracks?). They were from the late 70s when Bob Calvert was really pushing the band. They were getting pretty far from Space Ritual at that point.
Interesting. There aren't too many other of these collaborations known: at least, the only other I know of is Sir Terry Pratchett collaborating with Steeleye Span on the "Wintersmith" album.
It's fun to find these kinds of things. I can think of a few novelists who wrote lyrics for bands (e.g., Polly Samson for Pink Floyd, John Shirley for BOC) and novelists who are also musicians who write their own songs (like John Darnielle) and musicians who went on to write novels (e.g., Jimmy Buffett). Stephen R. Babb from Glass Hammer is a novelist and writes the band's lyrics.
Time for me to delve deep into Hawkwind. There are a couple of the big prog bands I’ve willingly chosen not to explore since I still want to have new prog to look forward to but I can definitely recognize the time has come for these space rockers.
I remember reading that some of their 80’s records had so many layers of synths that the music bordered on cacophony. I’d really like to explore those so any ideas what albums those may be?
Also, I’m ordering Moorcock’s Elric’s book 1 . It is also time.
I have Hawkwind's 1st, In Search of Space, Space Ritual, and a box set of rarities called 'Acid Daze.' I wouldn't say I am a mega fan, but I like their freakishness and how they experimented with both sound and rock music. Joe Banks' spectacular band bio, 'Hawkwind: Days of the Underground: Radical Escapism in the Age of Paranoia' is also easily one of the best music books I have read. It's a definite page-turner written with a ton of love and respect.
Thanks for the crossover link.
Man, I love the illustration for the cover on Warrior on the Edge of Time. It's such a great example of mixed media illustration/painting. I'm not sure if it is pen and ink or pen and watercolor, but it is gorgeous and the composition is fantastic.
I'll be doing a discussion, some time this month, about the covers for the new edition of D&D and how the digital painters are talented but that some of the modern practices in digital based art make illustrations look muddy. They are going for a "painterly" style, similar to what was done in Disney's Wish and the most recent Puss in Boots movie, but with a tad more expressionist influence. I'll be showing how even Monet, Manet, and Van Gogh manage to have styles where strokes are visible and not "photoreal," while managing to have clear distinctions between subjects and surroundings. That's where these new artists fail because the bodies of the subjects blur into the background or other subjects.
It's really a shame too because the general composition of the new covers is really good, but flawed.
The cover on the original album folds out. I'm not sure who did the art itself. The concept and art direction are credited to Comte Pierre D’Auvergne and Eddie Brash, but those are pseudonyms for Pierre Tubbs and Barney Bubbles. Looking forward to your D&D cover commentary!
Other literary-adjacent Hawkwind includes 'Damnation Alley' from 'Quark Strangeness & Charm' and 'High Rise' from PXR5, inspired by Roger Zelazny & JG Ballard respectively (written for movie soundtracks?). They were from the late 70s when Bob Calvert was really pushing the band. They were getting pretty far from Space Ritual at that point.
Thanks for sharing these!
Interesting. There aren't too many other of these collaborations known: at least, the only other I know of is Sir Terry Pratchett collaborating with Steeleye Span on the "Wintersmith" album.
It's fun to find these kinds of things. I can think of a few novelists who wrote lyrics for bands (e.g., Polly Samson for Pink Floyd, John Shirley for BOC) and novelists who are also musicians who write their own songs (like John Darnielle) and musicians who went on to write novels (e.g., Jimmy Buffett). Stephen R. Babb from Glass Hammer is a novelist and writes the band's lyrics.